Lap-forming apparatus



April 27, 1937. J. WEINBRENNER LAP FORMING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 29, 1932I 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aprifl 27,1937. J V'VE,NBREN E' 2,078,355

LAP FORMING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 29, 1952' 4 SheetsSheet 2 ApriE 27,1937. J. WEINBREN NER 2,078,355

LAP FORMING APPARATUS Filed 001:. 29, 1932 4 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Apiil1937- J. WEINBRENNER 4 2,078,355

LAP FORMING APPARATUS Filed 'oct. 29 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Jnl/en for.-

Ju/ea Welhbrenner w 42:

a fur n g Patented Apr. 27, 1937 UNITE-o STATES .PATEENT *O 'FFl-"CEJules France Application October '29, 1932, Serial No. 640,232 In:France November- 4,1931

2 Glaims.

The present invention relates to a lap-forming apparatuscharacterized-by its automatic working and anew method of feeding withslivers.

Lap-forming apparatus of this .type generally 5 comprise aV-shape'dtable-and seven to -fourteen feeding cans on each side, and thefleece orlap produced by such apparatus has a Width-c1190 to 305 mm.

Each ribbon passes upon a sliver .diverting 10 means towardsthe'dra-wing rollers, forthepurpose of being afterwards assembled in afleece. The drawing operation increases in proportion to the quantity ofthe slivers to 'be drawn and to the thickness of the lap to be drawn.For this 1;; reason, it is necessary to increase the width of the fleecedelivered with'respect to the quantity of the assembled slivers, as theapparatus presently in use do .not allow to secure a good result inassembling Ifor instance 28 ribbons to form a fleece having a width of 180 mm. and less, such f; width.

In conformity with the presentinvention, a plurality of roller heads arearranged between the table and the lap roller, so that a reduced numberof slivers may be separately drawn, and

curved guide plates having a deflecting'surfa'ce are arranged in acorresponding number, lfor the purpose of assembling the "separatelydrawn fleece.

The united fleeces are then wound-upon tubes.

When a suflicient length is wound or when the lap roller has attainedsufficient diameter, the apparatus is automatically stopped and the laproller is removed from the apparatus, while at the same time anotherempty tube, supplied by 2. feeding chamber, is automatically brought inposition in the place of the wound lap roller, and the machine isautomatically started.

In the accompanying drawings, a form of embodiment of the lap-formingapparatus is illus- 5 vtrated by way of example.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an ordinary lap-forming apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the improved lap-forming apparatuscomprisingtwo sets of fleece drawing devices;

.Fig. 3 illustrates.diagrammatically a form of embodiment of theimproved lap-formingapparatus, in which the slivers are fed fromrollers;

Figs. 4 and 5 are diagrammatic elevations of the improved lap-formingmachine fed with ribbons according to the arrangement illustrated inFig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic elevation of the mechanism controlling thestopping of the machine 60 when the lap roller is completely wound, theremoval of said lap, the introduction of an empty tube and therestarting of the apparatus;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic end elevation of the mechanism illustrated inFig. 6;

'Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view of the mechanis illustrated in 'Fig. 6and showing the driving ele- "ments for the conveying rollers and thewinding rollers;

Fig.9 is a horizontal section of the driving gear for the'rack barsprovided in the mechanism for securing the freeing and removal of thewound lap roller.

.In lap-forming apparatus of known type, as illustrated in Fig. '1, isprovided a V-shaped table I, and feeding cans 2 are arranged at thesides; 3 designates the drawing rollers and! the pressing rollers.

In the'new apparatus illustrated in Figs. 2 to 5, 5 designates'theV'-shaped table upon which are juxtaposed 2 17==34 ribbons, delivered bythe thirty-four cans'6 -arrangedon both sides of the table. From saidthirty-four ribbons, seventeen are directed towards the 'drawing'head 1,and the seventeen others are directed tothe drawing head 8, said drawingheads "being constructed as usually, i. e. comprising fluted bottomrollers and pressing top rollers.

After the drawing operation, which is per- .formed without difficulty,each fleece portion passes over a curved plate 9, l respectively, havingdeflecting surfaces, so that said portions are now directed towards theconveying rollers H and; over guides 12, towards the pressing roller l3and the winding rollers 14. The pressing rollor and the winding rollerscompress the separate ribbons, so as to constitute a fleece 35 which iswound upon a single .roller '44.

The-winding mechanism of the rollers acting upon the tubes and theautomatic supplying of said tubes are diagrammatically illustrated inFigs. 6 and 7.

The rotation of the conveying rollers H is performed in a wellknownmanner by means of the fixed pulley .A, the shaft a and the pinionsb. The winding roller M is rotated by means of the said shaft a, throughthe bevel-gears c, the pinion d, the toothed wheels'3'0, e and 1 (Figs.6 and 8) The toothed wheel 3'!) is loose on its shaft 9 (Fig. 7) whereasthe toothed wheel 1 iskeyed on its shaft h. It results therefrom thatonly the winding roller M is positively driven, whereas the roller ['4and its shaft 9' are .driven by friction of the lap roller '35 uponwhich is pressing the pressure roller l3.

The lap-forming apparatus is provided, as usual, with a counter of knowntype, provided with wheels l'5 an'dl'li. These wheels have teeth I andIS.

The wheel I5 is mounted upon the lever H, the lower hook-shaped end of'whichkeeps the control lever 98 in the on position. When the teeth 15'and i6, after a predetermined length of fleece has passed between therollers II, contact with each other, the lever l'l swings about its axisl9 and frees its hook from the lever I8.

The lever 58 drops and causes the rotation of the shaft to which it isrigidly connected; thereby the lever system 20, 2|, 22 is moved andactuates a belt fork, which shifts the driving belt from the fixedpulley A upon the loose pulley B (Fig. 8). With the loose pulley B isformed a pulley B of small diameter, which, by means of the endless belt2', drives the auxiliary shaft 70. This latter shaft, by means ofconvenient transmission elements, such as toothed wheels and endlesschains, rotates the chain Wheel 29 (Figs. 7 and 8). This chain wheel 29is loosely mounted upon theshaft g. r l

By the rotation of the shaft 25, the finger lfia, which is rigidly.fixed upon said shaft, is also rotated and thus presses thelever23:(Figs. 6 and '7) This lever 23 swings about the shaft 24, so as tocause the partial rotation of the cam 26 and bring the latter in such acondition that the clutching claws 2.? and 23 of the claw clutch come inengagement with the corresponding elements 29 and 29" integral with thebody of the chain wheel 2%! (Fig. '7).

The clutch element 28 is moved on a feather 28' along the shaft 9, saidshaft 9 normally rotating together with the winding roller l4.

By the fact that the conveying rollers H are no longer rotating (theirdriving elements being stopped) but the roller l4 still rotating, thefleece will be severed by pulling intermediate both afor.e said rollers.During this, the winding roller I4 is not positively driven and remainsunmoved, which meansthat it cannot be moved by the fleece-covered roller35, because being'connected to the driving elements of themachine, itpresents a too considerable resistance to frictional drive.

On the other hand, the coupling of the elements 2! and 29 causes therotation of the chain wheel 32, which, by means of the endless chain 33and the gear 33, will cause the rack bars 34 to ascend in a known manner(Fig. 9), and these rack bars will lift the discs 38 holding the roller3%} and the pressure roller I3.

When a predetermined position of the rack bars reached, a setting screw3'! urging the discs 36 towards each other, abuts against a fixedabutment 3B, which causes the unscrewing of the screw and the spacing ofthe discs 36. By this, the fleece-covered roller becomes free.

This roller 35 is then expelled under the action of the lever 39,actuated by a spring 40 and pivotally mounted upon its shaft 42, andsaid roller drops into the trough M (Fig. 6). The rotation of the lever39 about its shaft 42 causes the opening of the flap 43 of the container45, sothat a new core roller 44 will become engaged between the windingrollers, whereas the subsequent core rollers 44, 44", 44" and so on, arewithheld in the container by the plate 43 fixed to the shutter 43.

During their ascending movement, the rack bars 34 will exert a pull uponthe chain 46, by

means of which the lever l8 will be lifted. The shaft 25 is therebyrotated in the reverse direction as aforesaid. The return movement ofthe lever 23 is caused by the return spring I. The strength of thislatter spring is so adjusted that it will be overcome by the dropping ofthe lever it. The lever 23 coming back to its initial position, causesthe disconnection of the claws 21 and 28 from their elements 29' and29". It results therefrom, that the chain wheel 32 is disconnected also,so that the rack bars 34 drop down under their own weight in thedirection of the core roller 44 engaged between the winding rollers l4and I4. Simultaneously, due to the return movement of the shaft 25, thelevers 20, 2! and 22 are moved backwards, so that the driving belt ispassed from the loose pulley B upon the driving pulley A. In this way,the conveying device is again operated.

The discs 36 and their set screw 3'! are lowered simultaneously with therack bars 34, and in the lower portion of the stroke, the screw abutsagainst the slope 48, controlled by a spring 49,

so that the screw 31 is again'screwed home, so as to cause the discs 36to'approach each other. By this approaching movement of the discs, thecore roller 44 is again firmly held therebetween. From this moment a newcycle of operations is started.

I claim:

1. In a lap-forming apparatus of the type described in which aspring-controlled lever expels the wound lap roller when lying free uponthe winding rollers, a container for the reserve tubes to form the laprollers, a swinging shutter controlling the discharge opening of thecontainer and positively moved by the aforesaid lever to deliver thefirst reserve tube towards the winding rollers, and a flap fixed at theouter end of said swinging shutter and adapted to prevent discharge ofmore than one tube from the container, substantially as described.

2. In a lap-forming apparatus, a table, means for diverting the slivers,a plurality of drawing heads adapted to separately draw a number ofslivers to form ribbons, curved guiding surfaces arranged to assemblethe ribbons in a fleece, conveying rollers for the fleece, means forwinding the fleece upon a tube, said means comprising a pair of windingrollers, a movement transmission system for normally rotating theconveying rollers and one of said Winding rollers, a pressure rolleracting upon the tube upon which the fleece is to be wound, rack barscontrolling the action of said pressure roller, a pair of discssupported by said rack bars adapted to frictio-nally hold the ends ofthe tube upon which the lap is to be wound, means for axially moving oneof said discs with relation to the movement of the rack bars and acontrol mechanism comprising a swinging lever adapted to stop theaforesaid transmission sys-' tem, means for causing the stopping motionof said swinging lever when a determined quantity of fleece is woundupon the tube, an auxiliary movement transmission system adapted tooperate after the stopping motion of said swinging lever, a clutchingdevice actuated by the stopping motion of said swinging lever andtransmission elements for rotating the second winding roller while thefirst-mentioned winding roller and the conveying rollers are stopped,transmission elements actuated by said clutching device for moving saidrack bars so as to release the pressure rollers, and means actuated bythe moving rack bars for bringing said swinging lever to its normaloperative position in which the first-mentioned transmission system isnormally active and the auxiliary transmission system remains stopped,substantially as described for the purpose set forth.

JULES WEINBRENNER.

